​Bahrain to get more US arms as authorities keep cracking down on protestors

Washington has resumed military aid to the Bahraini government. The move was criticized by human rights groups, which say it takes place “in the absence of any real or meaningful political reforms” and amid numerous human rights abuses.

“The administration
has decided to lift the holds on security assistance to the
Bahrain Defense Force and National Guard that were implemented
following Bahrain’s crackdown on demonstrations in 2011,”
the US State Department’s John Kirby said in astatement.

He added that the Bahraini government has made “some
meaningful progress on human rights reforms and
reconciliation.”

The restoration of military aid to Bahrain comes two weeks after
a court sentenced Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman to
four years in prison. He was convicted of insulting the Interior
Ministry and of inciting others to break the law in the aftermath
of the 2011 uprising.

The 49-year-old was the secretary-general of the Al-Wefaq
opposition group when he was arrested in late December.

Bahrain has been accused by human rights groups for brutally
clamping down on protesters, with the government in Manama using
harsh counterterrorism laws to prosecute human rights activists.

The government also repeatedly persecuted Nabeel Rajab, the
world-renown human rights activist and president of the Bahrain
Centre for Human Rights (BCHR). The authorities arrested him in
January for sending an “insulting tweet.” In a tweet
posted in September, he suggested that Bahraini security
institutions could act as an "ideological incubator" for
terrorism and Islamic State militants.

The US decision to resume sending weapons was met with criticism
from human rights groups.

"There is no way to dress this up as a good move," Brian
Dooley from Human Rights First, adding that "it's bad for
Bahrain, bad for the region and bad for the United States."

According to Sarah Margon, Washington director of Human Rights
Watch, "the Obama administration's decision to lift
restrictions on security assistance to Bahrain's Defense Forces
and National Guard is occurring in the absence of any real or
meaningful political reform."

“Bahrain's jails are bursting at the seams with political
detainees, and the recent prison sentence for political
opposition leader Al Wefaq Secretary-General Sheikh Ali Salman
means that a political accommodation remains as far away as
ever,” she added.

Ruled by King Hamad, it was rocked by anti-government protests
since 2011 by the majority Shiite Muslim population, calling for
more freedoms in the Sunni-ruled country. The public uprising
that rocked Bahrain at the time was brutally suppressed with the
help of Saudi Arabia, which sent its troops to back the Bahraini
regime.

The majority Shiite population of Bahrain complains of
discrimination and a lack of democracy in the oil-rich kingdom,
while the Sunni monarchy often accuses its archrival Iran – a
Shiite powerhouse – of instigating unrest.